Adventuring is in her DNA, says Sandra. At age 11, she spent a year studying in a village in a remote area of Scotland and all spare time was devoted to exploring dank and dark dungeons. (She had to beat up the school bully for calling her a "damned Yank" as she was the first American to attend that academy.) As a Beatnik teen in San Francisco, she hung out with Kesey, Ginsberg and other Beats. 30 years later, she was re-acquainted with Lawrence Ferlinghetti who became a frequent guest/crew aboard her pink sailboat docked at Pier 39 where she lived aboard before taking off for seas unknown. Smith studied Foreign Affairs at Geo. Washington Univ. while working for Senator Morse of Oregon. She later obtained a Master's degree from Grenoble University, France where she became totally fluent in French and spent 2 years becoming an expert on French wines, Cognacs and cheeses. Her high-profile careers include: asst. to Hewlett-Packard's director in Geneva, Switz., lobbyist for major Arts organizations, journalist, actor, exec. chef, and after ending her sailing adventures, she became innkeeper of her five-star B&B inn she built and ran for 26 years in Eureka Springs, AR.
When she bought the 35-ft. sailboat, she tossed out all the fancy navigating equipment, radar, and other electronics (says Sandra, "I'm not a techie!") and taught herself how to sail venturing alone up and down the coast of California. She then took off alone heading south equipped with just a compass, a chart and a prayer. While solo-sailing in the Pacific from San Francisco to the Polynesian Triangle off Easter Island, for 3+ years, she hosted her own on-board radio show, "As The Anchor Drags Radio Theater" and read on her weekly show the entire book of Treasure Island in various nightly segments plus many other books. Smith now lives outside Tucson in the High Sonoran Desert of Arizona and when not travelling, spends days creating exotic recipes and nights stargazing.
She is currently editing the sequel to her "Out of the Fog!" memoir which continues the saga of her solo sailing in the Pacific and will be available late 2024, entitled "Into the Light!"